Egg stabilizer

ABSTRACT

Equipment for grading eggs by weight wherein a balance beam is provided with an egg support on which an egg to be weighed is deposited by egg moving means. Means are located adjacent and above the egg support in position to be engaged by an egg deposited on the support and serve to stabilize and position the egg with respect to the balance beam so as to render the weighing operation more accurate and permit increased speed in operation of the equipment. The egg stabilizing means also cooperates with egg discharging means located below the egg support to aid in discharging an egg from the egg support when the balance beam is tilted.

United States Patent N iederer [54] EGG STABILIZER Otto C. Nlederer,Bear Tavern Road, Titusville, NJ. 08560 |22| Filed: Dec. 2|, I970 [2|]App|.No.: 99,955

[72] Inventor:

[52] [LS-Cl. ..209/121 3,349,907 lO/l967 Niederer et al. ..209/l2lFOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS 740,246 i 1/1955 Great Britain ..2o9/121Primary Examiner-Allen N. Knowles Attorney-Sperry and Zoda [57] ABSTRACTEquipment for grading eggs by weight wherein a balance beam is providedwith an egg support on which an egg to be weighed is deposited by egmoving means. Means are located adjacent and above the egg support inposition to be engaged by an egg deposited on the support and serve tostabilize and position the eg with respect to the balance beam so as torender the weighing operation more accurate and permit increased speedin operation of the equipment. The egg stabilizing means also cooperateswith egg discharging means located below the egg support to aid indischarging an egg from the egg support when the balance beam is tilted.

Pmmmwm 1m 3.672.501

INVENTOR O'rro C. M/EDEEER ATTORNEYS EGG STABILIZER I FIELD OF INVENTIONIt is common practicein grading eggs by weight, to provide a series ofgraduated weighing devices having tiltable balance beams with spaced eggsupporting rails mounted on the balance beams of each device. An eggmoving means is then moved in an eliptical path or cyclic manner betweenthe rails of the weighing devices to advance eggs from one weighingdevice to another and to deposit the eggs on the rails of the weighingdevice while allowing the balance beams to tilt and discharge an eggtherefrom if the egg exceeds the weight for which the weighing device isadjusted. Typical equipment of this type is shown and described in US.Pat. No. 2,246,597. Further, in order to control the operation of theweighing devices and aid in discharging the eggs therefrom, suchweighing devices are frequently provided with holding means forpreventing the balance beams from tilting until an egg deposited on therails has had an opportunity to come to rest and to aid in dischargingan egg from the egg supporting rails upon limited tilting of the balancebeam. Typical equipment of this type is shown and described in US. Pat.No. 2,646,168.

While equipment of the type referred to above has been widely used, thedemand for higher speeds is operation and increased capacity of egggrading equipment have rendered it necessary to provide additional meansand modified constructions for assuring proper and uniform placement ofthe eggs on the egg supporting rails of the weighing devices and forstabilizing the eggs so that they will not continue to rock or change inposition during the weighing operation. An improvement of this type isdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,349,907.

THE PRESENT INVENTION In accordance with the present invention furtherimproved means are provided for stabilizing and positioning the eggs onthe egg supporting means of weighing devices and for aiding in the rapiddischarge of eggs from the egg supporting means upon tilting of thebalance beam. The construction thus provided not only serves to increasethe capacity of the egg grading equipment, but also increases theaccuracy of the weighing operation.

For this purpose the weighing device is provided with an egg stabilizingmember which is pivotally supported on the weighing device and has aportion thereof located above the egg supporting rails in position to beengaged by an egg deposited on the rails. The portion engaged by an egghas oppositely inclined surfaces which aid in centering and stabilizingan egg with respect to the balance beam as it is lowered onto the eggsupporting means by the egg moving means. At the same time said portionis yieldably urged transversely of the rails by a counter-weight or thelike to aid in discharging an egg from its support upon tilting of thebalance beam. The egg stabilizing and discharging means located abovethe egg supporting means also cooperates with egg discharging meanslocated below and between the rails of the egg supporting means which isprovided with an inclined surface facing outward from the weighingdevice to further aid in the rapid discharge of an egg from the weighingdevice upon limited tilting of the balance beam.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of typical egg grading equipmentembodying the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the construction shown in FIG. 1taken on the line 2-2 thereof, and

FIG. 3 is a perspective illustrating the egg stabilizing and dischargingmeans located above the egg supporting means of the equipment shown inFIGS. 1 and 2.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In that form of the inventionchosen for purposes of illustration in the drawings, the egg gradingequipment embodies a plurality of weighing devices, two of which areshown at 2 and 4 in FIG. 1, although in practice it is usual to employ24 or more weighing devices arranged longitudinally along a support 6.In such cases a group of, say six or more, weighing devices may beadjusted to respond to the weight of the heaviest or jumbo" eggs, thenext group of weighing devices respond to the weight of large" eggs, andother groups respond to eggs of lesser weight until the final grouprespond to the weight of the smallest or peewee" eggs.

Each of the egg weighing devices is provided with a balance beam 8tiltable about pivot means 10 and provided with egg supporting means inthe fonn of spaced parallel rails 12 and 14 which are connected to eachother by longitudinally spaced loops 16. Egg moving means 18 in the formof an elongated conveyor bar is movable in an eliptical path or a cyclicmanner in a vertical plane between the rails 12 and 14 of the eggsupporting means of the weighing devices. Such movement of the conveyorbar may be efiected by any suitable means such as a motor 20 whichdrives a crank 22 and eccentric 24 whereby the eggs are raised,advanced, and lowered in groups of five or more so as to be deposited onthe egg supporting rails of the weighing devices of each successivegroup in the equipment. If an egg is of sufficient weight to tilt thebalance beam of the device on which it is deposited the egg will bedischarged at a selected location but if it is of lesser weight theweighing device will not be actuated and the egg will be picked up onthe next cycle of movement of the egg conveying bar 18 so as to beadvanced to the next group of weighing devices for weighing thereby.

As shown in FIG. 2 of the drawing egg discharging means 26 arepositioned below the rails 12 and 14 of the weighing device andsupported on rods 28 which extend vertically through slots 30 in the eggconveyor bar 18. The discharge means 26 is in the form of alongitudinally extending strip located above the conveyor bar 18 andpositioned to engage the lower portion of an egg supported on the eggsupporting rails of the weighing device upon tilting of the balance beam8 to which said rails are connected. The balance beam is normally heldin a predetermined, generally horizontal and idle position betweensuccessive weighing operations by means of a locking bar 32 or othersuitable means. In this way the egg supporting means of the variousweighing devices are held stationary as the eggs are deposited thereonso that the weighing operation will not be influenced by the operationof depositing the egg thereon and any tendency for the egg to rock or bedisplaced with reference to the weighing devices as it is moved from onedevice to another can be overcome before the weighing device is releasedfor a weighing operation. Such release is effected by suitable means forraising the locking bar 32 from the balance beam in timed relation tothe movement of the conveyor bar 18 as exemplified by the mechanismshown and described in said U.S. Pat. No. 2,646,168.

In accordance with the present invention the weighing devices are eachprovided with improved egg stabilizing and discharging means. For thispurpose a rod 34 extends between the longitudinally spaced loops 16 andabove the inner rail 12 of the egg supporting means of the weighingdevice. The egg stabilizing and discharging means is in the form of aplate 36 having a central portion 38 which extends over the rod 34 andrests thereon so that the plate is supported for pivotal movement aboutthe rod 34. The rear portion 40 of the plate 36 is provided with acounter weight 42 which normally rests upon the upper surface of thebalance beam 8 and serves to urge the front portion 44 of the plate to aposition wherein it is elevated above the inner rail 12 of the eggsupporting means and projects outward into a position wherein it will beengaged and deflected inward when an egg is deposited on the rails bythe egg moving means. The front portion 44 of the plate 38 when thusdeflected inward by an egg being deposited on the rails 12 and 14 servesto raise the counter weight 42 a short distance from the balance beam 8.The front portion 44 of the plate 38 will then be yieldably urgedoutward and transversely of the egg supporting rails by the action ofthe counter weight.

The front portion 44 of the plate 38 further is preferably provided withoppositely inclined edges or surfaces 46 which will be engaged by an eggbeing lowered into place on the rails 12 and 14 so as to aid incentering the egg with respect to the longitudinal axis of the balancebeam 8. The surfaces 46 also serve to prevent the egg from rocking orbeing displaced longitudinally on the rails as it comes to rest thereon.in this way the egg is stabilized as it is lowered into place on the eggsupporting means whereby it is possible to raise the locking bar 32 andrelease the balance beam of the weighing device instantly after the eggis deposited. The speed at which the eggs can be advanced and loweredinto place on the egg supporting means and the weighing device readiedfor carrying out the weighing operation can then be materiallyincreased.

When the locking bar 32 is raised from the balance beam 8 to permit theegg to be weighed, the front portion 44 of the plate 36 will bedeflected and yieldably tend to urge the egg transversely of the rails12 and 14. As a result only limited tilting of the balance beam andrails will be required to effect the discharge of an egg from the rails.Furthermore, the egg discharging means or strip 26 which is locatedbelow the rails 12 and 14 of the egg supporting means may be formed withan upper surface 50 which is inclined outwardly so that when it isengaged by the lower portion of an egg upon tilting of the balance beamand rails, the lower egg discharging means will also tend to displacethe egg transversely with respect to the rails to discharge from theweighing device.

The combined action of the front portion 44 of the upper egg stabilizingand discharging means and the inclined surface 50 of the lower eggdischarging means, causes the egg to be discharged from the weighingdevice promptly upon minimum tilting of the balance beam. Therefore eggsof border-line weight which are sometimes called lazy eggs" and onlytend to tilt the balance beam slowly, will nevertheless be dischargedquickly from the weighing device permitting the speed of operation ofthe equipment to be further increased. At the same time the accuracy ofthe weighing operation can be improved and the egg grading capacity ofthe equipment can be increased. I 7

ln employing the present invention it is possible to apply the eggstabilizing and discharging plate 38 to existing egg grading equipmentsuch as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,646,268. in a similar way, it ispossible to apply a cap strip presenting the inclined surface 50 of thelower egg discharging means of the present invention to thelongitudinally extending egg discharging strip or bar of such priorequipment. In this way the advantages of the present invention may beattained by applying simple nd inexpensive elements to constructions ofthe prior art or to install such improvements to new and originalequipment as desired.

1 claim:

1. Equipment for grading eggs by weight comprising a balance beam withegg supporting means thereon, means for depositing an egg on said eggsupporting means, egg stabilizing means movably mounted adjacent saidegg supporting means and having a portion thereof positioned to beengaged by an egg deposited on the supporting means to control movementof the egg with respect to the supporting means.

2. Equipment as defined in claim 1 wherein said egg stabilizing means ispivotally mounted for yielding movement by an egg being deposited onsaid supporting means.

3. Equipment as defined in claim 1 wherein said egg stabilizing meanshas a counter-weight connected thereto for yieldably urging said portionthereof into position to be engaged by an egg being deposited on thesupporting means.

4. Equipment as defined in claim 1 wherein said egg stabilizing means ismovable with said balance beam.

5. Equipment as defined in claim 1 wherein said portion of the eggstabilizing means which engages an egg has inclined surfaces for guidingan egg being deposited on said supporting means.

6. Equipment for grading eggs by weight comprising a balance beam withspaced rails thereon and an egg moving means movable between said railsto advance an egg into a position above said rails and thereafter lowersaid egg onto said rails, an egg stabilizing device pivotally mountedadjacent said rails and having a portion thereof projecting into aposition above said rails wherein it will engage said egg being loweredonto the rails by said egg moving means and control movement of the eggwith respect to said rails 7. Equipment as defined in claim 6 whereinsaid portion of said egg stabilizing means presents two longitudinallyspaced egg engaging surfaces for contacting the egg to prevent the eggfrom rocking with respect to said rails.

8. Equipment as defined in claim 6 wherein said portion of said eggstabilizing means presents oppositely inclined surfaces engageable by anegg being lowered onto said rails by said egg moving means to aid incentering the egg with respect to the balance beam.

9. Equipment as defined in claim 6, wherein said egg stabilizing meansis movable with said balance beam.

10. Equipment as defined in claim 9 wherein said egg stabilizing meanshas a counter-weight thereon yieldably urging said portion of thestabilizing means into an egg engaging position above said rails.

11. Equipment as defined in claim 6 wherein means are located below saidrails in position to be engaged by the lower portion of an egg locatedon said rails on tilting of the balance beam from a predetermined idleposition and cooperating with the egg stabilizing means to effect thedischarge of an egg from said rails on such tilting of the balance beam.

12. Equipment for grading eggs by weight comprising a balance beamhaving spaced egg supporting rails thereon, egg moving means movablelongitudinally and vertically between said rails for depositing an eggon said rails, and egg discharging means including members normallylocated above and below said egg supporting rails and engageable with anegg on said rails to effect the discharge of an egg therefrom upontilting of the balance beam from a predetermined idle position, thatmember of the egg discharging means which is located above said railsbeing yieldably movable transversely of said rails to aid in thedischarge of an egg therefrom. v

13. Egg grading means as defined in claim 12 wherein that member of saidegg discharging means which is located above said egg supporting railsis mounted for pivotal movement with respect to said balance beam andegg supporting rails.

14. Egg grading means as defined in claim 12 wherein that member of theegg discharging means which is located above said egg supporting railsis provided with a portion positioned to engage an eg when it isdeposited on said rails by said egg moving means, and that member of theegg discharging means which is normally located below said rails ispositioned to engage an egg located on the rails only upon tilting ofsaid balance beam from a predetermined idle position.

15. Egg grading equipment as defined in claim 14 wherein that member ofsaid egg discharging means which is located above the egg supportingrails is provided with a portion positioned on that side of the eggsupporting rails adjacent the balance beam and has a counter-weightthereon tending to move said portion transversely of the egg supportingrails to aid in discharging an egg from said rails when the balance beamis tilted from a predetermined idle position.

16. Egg grading equipment as defined in claim 12 wherein means areprovided for holding said balance beam in said predetermined idleposition between weighing operations and while an egg is being depositedon said rails.

17. An egg discharging device for use with a weighing device of egggrading equipment which includes a tiltable balance beam provided withspaced egg supporting rails, said egg discharging device being held in afixed position during a weighing operation and being located between andbelow the said rails when the balance beam is in its normal untiltedposi tion, said discharge device presenting a transversely inclinedupper surface which projects above at least one of the egg supportingrails when said balance beam is tilted.

1. Equipment for grading eggs by weight comprising a balance beam withegg supporting means thereon, means for depositing an egg on said eggsupporting means, egg stabilizing means movably mounted adjacent saidegg supporting means and having a portion thereof positioned to beengaged by an egg deposited on the supporting means to control movementof the egg with respect to the supporting means.
 2. Equipment as definedin claim 1 wherein said egg stabilizing means is pivotally mounted foryielding movement by an egg being deposited on said supporting means. 3.Equipment as defined in claim 1 wherein said egg stabilizing means has acounter-weight connected thereto for yieldably urging said portionthereof into position to be engaged by an egg being deposited on thesupporting means.
 4. Equipment as defined in claim 1 wherein said eggstabilizing means is movable with said balance beam.
 5. Equipment asdefined in claim 1 wherein said portion of the egg stabilizing meanswhich engages an egg has inclined surfaces for guiding an egg beingdeposited on said supporting means.
 6. Equipment for grading eggs byweight comprising a balance beam with spaced rails thereon and an eggmoving means movable between said rails to advance an egg into aposition above said rails and thereafter lower said egg onto said rails,an egg stabilizing device pivotally mounted adjacent said rails andhaving a portion thereof projecting into a position above said railswherein it will engage said egg being lowered onto the rails by said eggmoving means and control movement of the egg with respect to said rails7. Equipment as defined in claim 6 wherein said portion of said eggstabilizing means presents two longitudinally spaced egg engagingsurfaces for contacting the egg to prevent the egg from rocking withrespect to said rails.
 8. Equipment as defined in claim 6 wherein saidportion of said egg stabilizing means presents oppositely inclinedsurfaces engageable by an egg being lowered onto said rails by said eggmoving means to aid in centering the egg with respect to the balancebeam.
 9. Equipment as defined in claim 6, wherein said egg stabilizingmeans is movable with said balance beam.
 10. Equipment as defined inclaim 9 wherein said egg stabilizing means has a counter-weight thereonyieldably urging said portion of the stabilizing means into an eggengaging position above said rails.
 11. Equipment as defined in claim 6wherein means are located below said rails in position to be engaged bythe lower portion of an egg located on said rails on tilting of thebalance beam from a predetermined idle position and cooperating with theegg stabilizing means to effect the discharge of an egg from said railson such tilting of the balance beam.
 12. Equipment for grading eggs byweight comprising a balance beam having spaced egg supporting railsthereon, egg moving means movable longitudinally and vertically betweensaid rails for depositing an egg on said rails, and egg dischargingmeans including members normally located above and below said eggsupporting rails and engageable with an egg on said rails to effect thedischarge of an egg therefrom upon tilting of the balance beam from apredetermined idle position, that member of the egg discharging meanswhich is located above said rails being yieldably movable transverselyof said rails to aid in the discharge of an egg therefrom.
 13. Egggrading means as defined in claim 12 wherein that member of said eggdischarging means which is located above said egg supporting rails ismounted for pivotal movement with respect to said balance beam and eggsupporting rails.
 14. Egg grading means as defined in claim 12 whereinthat member of the egg discharging means which is located above said eggsupporting rails is provided with a portion positioned to eNgage an eggwhen it is deposited on said rails by said egg moving means, and thatmember of the egg discharging means which is normally located below saidrails is positioned to engage an egg located on the rails only upontilting of said balance beam from a predetermined idle position.
 15. Egggrading equipment as defined in claim 14 wherein that member of said eggdischarging means which is located above the egg supporting rails isprovided with a portion positioned on that side of the egg supportingrails adjacent the balance beam and has a counter-weight thereon tendingto move said portion transversely of the egg supporting rails to aid indischarging an egg from said rails when the balance beam is tilted froma predetermined idle position.
 16. Egg grading equipment as defined inclaim 12 wherein means are provided for holding said balance beam insaid predetermined idle position between weighing operations and whilean egg is being deposited on said rails.
 17. An egg discharging devicefor use with a weighing device of egg grading equipment which includes atiltable balance beam provided with spaced egg supporting rails, saidegg discharging device being held in a fixed position during a weighingoperation and being located between and below the said rails when thebalance beam is in its normal untilted position, said discharge devicepresenting a transversely inclined upper surface which projects above atleast one of the egg supporting rails when said balance beam is tilted.